Archaeologists have unearthed a mysterious coffin-within-a-coffin near the final resting place of Richard III.

The University of Leicester team lifted the lid of a medieval stone coffin this week  the final week of their second dig at the Grey Friars site, where the medieval king was discovered in September.

This is the first fully intact stone coffin to be discovered in Leicester in controlled excavations  and is believed to contain one of the friary's founders or a medieval monk.

Within the stone coffin, they found an inner lead coffin  and will need to carry out further analysis before they can open the second box.

Archaeologists have taken the inner lead coffin to the University's School of Archaeology and Ancient History, and will carry out tests to find the safest way of opening it without damaging the remains within.

It took eight people to carefully remove the stone lid from the outer coffin  which is 2.12 metres long, 0.6 metres wide at the "head" end, 0.3 metres wide at the "foot" end and 0.3 metres deep.

The inner coffin is likely to contain a high-status burial  though we don't currently know who it contains.

Tantalisingly, the individual's feet can be seen through a hole in the bottom of the casket.

The archaeologists suspect the grave could belong to one of three prestigious figures known to buried at the friary.

These include two leaders of the English Grey Friars order - Peter Swynsfeld, who died in 1272, and William of Nottingham, who died in 1330.

Records also suggest the friary contains the grave of 'a knight called Mutton, sometime mayor of Leicester'.

Grey Friars site director Mathew Morris, of the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), said: "The stone coffin was always the big thing we wanted to investigate during this dig. For me, it was as exciting as finding Richard III. We still don't know who is inside  so there is still a question mark over it.

"None of us in the team have ever seen a lead coffin within a stone coffin before. We will now need to work out how to open it safely, as we don't want to damage the contents when we are opening the lid.

"The coffin could contain William de Moton, Peter Swynsfeld or William of Nottingham  who are all important people. Swynsfeld and Nottingham were heads of the Grey Friars order in England."

Leading UK construction and infrastructure company Morgan Sindall is currently on site constructing a King Richard III Visitor Centre to showcase some of the finds from the site. Morgan Sindall is working with the archaeological team to enable access to the site whilst building work continues.

Resting in peace for these burials went away a long time ago. I believe the priory and church were destroyed as a part of Oliver Cromwell’s campaign in the 1600s and these burials were under a current parking lot. Better for history knowledge to map the site, investigate the burials, and then reinterr them in a more secure resting place.

10
posted on 07/30/2013 8:12:27 AM PDT
by RJS1950
(The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)

So does this mean they’ll let the original occupant of the grave have his place back, maybe move Richard III to Westminster Abbey? I can’t imagine the current royal descendants of German descent have any reason to oppose the last Plantagenet king getting in there?

.... Lead coffins in the days of olde were used to bury wealthy and important people of the day. Something called logic tells me it wasn’t just used to entrap the imaginatively created Hollywood glamorized versions of undead and evil creatures and beasties. At least not very often that is LOL.

***
In Maryland, there is an historic city called St. Mary’s, which has had and continues to have quite a bit of excavation and study. The restored parts are open to the public.

Anyway, several years ago, there were coffins discovered that had lead linings. I can’t remember anymore what the archaeologists’ thoughts were as to the reason for the use of lead. I am thinking that it would be to delay the onslaught of the soil organisms, but I am just guessing.

You are correct. Lead and lead oxides kill bacteria, fungus, mold mildew and algae, though they were unknown organisms at the time. Lead also would absorb all the oxygen in the coffin fairly quickly in the form of lead oxides......

Johnny Depp has always had a penchant for taking on eclectic roles. He may “retire” for awhile, but if a producer finds a role that’s weird enough, he may take on the job. After the Lone Ranger debacle however, he may go on extended haiatus...

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